Google delays library database.

• Author: Swartz, Nikki
• Position: UP FRONT: News, Trends & Analysis

Google has temporarily halted its program to make searchable, digital copies of the vast contents of three U.S. university libraries after complaints from publishers and copyright holders.

Google said it plans to give publishers the chance to opt out of having their protected works copied. But a publishing trade association called the opt-out offer inadequate, saying the entire program, the Google Print Library Project, is based on purposeful copyright violation.

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The dispute stems from a deal, announced in December, that Google struck with libraries at major universities--Harvard, Stanford, the University of Michigan, and Oxford University--and the New York Public Library.

The agreements with Oxford and the New York library allow Google to make copies of all of the works in those institutions that are no longer protected by copyright. Once the project is up and running, the company will allow users of its Google Print site (print.google.com) to search those works and display contents that match a search term.

The agreements with the three U.S. university libraries have proved more problematic. The libraries agreed to let Google copy their entire collections--both public domain and copyrighted works--to allow searching. When a search request produces a result in a protected work, Google displays only a snippet of text, plus bibliographic information and, if the book is still in print, links to sites where it can be purchased.

Publishers have objected to the program, however, saying that even if only snippets of a protected work are displayed in the search results, Google has still violated the copyright by making a wholesale copy and keeping it on the company's computers.

In June, the publishers' association asked Google to suspend its project for six months while questions about the copyright issues were discussed. In May, the Association of American University Presses sent Google a letter with 16 detailed questions about...